Author Sophie Kinsella dies aged 55
Author Sophie Kinsella, the pen name used by novelist Madeleine Wickham, has died aged 55 after being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2022. Wickham, known to everyone as Maddy, wrote her first novel, The Tennis Party, under her real name aged 24, while working as a financial journalist. It was an immediate success and she went on to publish six more novels as Madeleine Wickham.
Five years later, writing as Sophie Kinsella, she published The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic, which introduced readers to the beloved Becky Bloomwood, "a character for our times, funny, feisty and without a trace of guile". Over the next 25 years, Wickham would write eight further Shopaholic novels and another 18 books, including one YA novel and four children’s books.
Wickham was known as the "queen of happy endings" and "defined and elevated romantic comedy by populating her stories with real-life issues that combined wit, emotional depth and societal insight." Her publisher added: "Her distinctive voice and style brought her readers from a wide demographic across the world."
Araminta Whitley and Marina de Pass, her agents at The Soho Agency, said: "Maddy was a once-in-a-lifetime author and friend, and it has been the privilege of our working lives to represent her since the beginning of her career. Over the last three decades, her success has been truly international: she published 34 novels across adult, YA and children’s publishing that have topped charts around the world, breaking records and defying expectations. Yet reaching higher heights wasn’t what drove her.
"Maddy was an intelligent, imaginative, loving and irreverent woman who valued the deeply connective power of fiction. She had a rare gift for creating emotionally resonant protagonists and stories that spoke to, and entertained, readers wherever they were in the world and whatever challenges they faced. She also had an unmatched wit and ability to find the funny side. Comedy, for her, was both an art form and an intellectual pursuit and she instinctively understood that it is often a tightrope act of balancing light with dark.
"Her readers, and we include ourselves in that, felt seen and understood by her protagonists and their stories. We have lost count of the number of fans we met at events and in signing lines who wanted her to know that her books had helped them through some of the hardest moments of their lives. Yet through it all, Maddy remained humble and full of wonder at her success and influence. Consequently, she was profoundly moved, and buoyed, by the outpouring of love and support she received on publicly disclosing her glioblastoma diagnosis last year.
"It is hard to contemplate life and work without Maddy. We will remember her for her warmth, insight and irrepressible sense of humour, for the magnificent, witty and resonant novels she leaves behind, and for making our days infinitely more meaningful and fun. We are completely heartbroken at her death. We loved her dearly and will miss her more than we can say.
Bill Scott-Kerr, publisher at Transworld, her publishing home for the past 30 years, said: "I have had the true pleasure of knowing Maddy for the past three decades. Transworld have been lucky enough to publish every one of her adult novels. She was our author, our cheerleader, our fellow conspirator and our friend. From the outset it has been a genuine partnership based on commitment, trust and celebration that has gone from strength to strength over the years, right up to the heartbreaking brilliance of her last novella. She has been such an unshakeable pillar of our publishing at Transworld for so many years that the thought of a year without a Sophie Kinsella to publish is inconceivable.
"As a writer, Maddy was a complete professional; she consistently delivered above and beyond what she promised. But what really singles her out and made all of her myriad achievements possible was her humanity. First and foremost, she was intensely, authentically herself: intelligent, creative, intuitively understanding and curious about the world and the people who lived in it. Even if you didn’t know her personally, you got such a strong sense of connection with the person behind the books that reading them felt like a communal moment.
"Every time you opened one of her novels you knew you were in for something special. It takes exceptional talent to balance pitch-perfect comic timing with serious intent on the page and Maddy was able to do that with apparent ease, time and time again. Her instinctive and empathetic understanding of human nature gave her novels genuine veracity that broadened and deepened the experience of reading them, and yet she could still turn on a pin from a farcical scenario to a moment of breathtaking pathos. She gave substance to the fine art of entertainment, elevating it to something that delivered an individual experience to each and every one of her readers, irrespective of gender or age.
"Maddy leaves behind a glorious and indelible legacy: a unique voice, an unquenchable spirit, a goodness of intent and a body of work that will continue to inspire us to reach higher and be better, just like so many of her characters. On a personal level Maddy was the embodiment of joy, an extraordinarily clever, funny, sassy, impish, kind and generous collaborator who brought light into our lives. She was as part of this company as anyone, and we will all truly miss her."
A tribute on Wickham’s Instagram read: "We are heartbroken to announce the passing this morning of our beloved Sophie (aka Maddy, aka Mummy). She died peacefully, with her final days filled with her true loves: family and music and warmth and Christmas and joy.
"We can’t imagine what life will be like without her radiance and love of life. Despite her illness. which she bore with unimaginable courage, Sophie counted herself truly blessed – to have such wonderful family and friends, and to have had the extraordinary success of her writing career. She took nothing for granted and was forever grateful for the love she received.
"She will be missed so much our hearts are breaking."
